The tropical rainforest harbors over 40,000 different plant species. That's over half the known plant species on earth. Most of the trees have their roots mostly above ground, due to the infertility of the soil. This infertility is caused by the high amount of decomposing bacteria in the rainforest, it is almost impossible for humus to form.. Another way to solve this problem is to use the energy from sunlight as well as other small insects to make up for the loss of nutrients in the soil. There are a few different carnivorous plants, the most well known being the Venus Flytrap.
